As Georgia Heard reminds us, literature can hide in strange places. Since 1998, high school and university teachers and their students have joined to explore what is new or surprising in American literature, to search for the poems that lurk outside anthologies, and to bring back fresh ideas to energize their classrooms. This summer a group of teachers and students continue their mission of pushing the boundaries by looking into the emerging world of slam poetry. As the slam poetry scene is unfamiliar to many teachers, things promise to get turned upside-down: students become teachers, and teachers students.
This years’ workshop is facilitated by Professor Anne Ruggles Gere of the University of Michigan, poet and teacher Jeff Kass of Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High, and new University of Michigan Ph.D. graduate Cari Carpenter. They are joined by five visiting poets, Kim Blaeser, Regie Gibson, Al Letson, Bassey Ikpi, and Ayodele, who will lead writing workshops and discussion groups and perform evening readings open to the public. Teachers will enjoy many chances to discuss ways to present slam poetry to their students, and students and teachers will work on their own poetry in a supportive environment.
The Making American Literatures workshops have been engaging and fruitful for past participants, who posted their work on the Making American Literatures website and recently published a book of articles, Making American Literatures in High School and College. The volume is grounded in the idea that American literature is not a fixed canon of great works, but a fluid concept that is continuously defined and redefined by many forces. The volume invites thoughtful teachers to energize their teaching and their students by examining how they too “make” American literature through their choices of what to teach and how to present it. This year’s workshop promises to continue the tradition of breaking new ground in the teaching of writing and American literature.
Making American Literatures is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan School of Education, University of Michigan English Department, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, the Oakland Writing Project, and the National Writing Project.